Our Hero Academia: Chapter 59
Wavering Under Pressure Kinzoku sprinted throughout the city, having not paid any mind to Ryuji at all. They were the last pair to go, and up against their homeroom teacher, Mr. Jooryoku. It didn't help their odds that they hadn't planned at all. Kinzoku just couldn't stand being near Ryuji, let alone work with him, especially while there was tension between the two. Kinzoku was sporting his new hero attire, being much more combat ready that his former. It was almost remarkable how much better it looked with the minor additions. While he still lacked anything to cover his upper body, it served a purpose as always. And maybe he'd be able to debut his newest ability as well, with the lack of a shirt maybe enhancing the flare of it all. Regardless, only time could tell what he'd need to pull out against Isan. Watching him sprint across the sparse city by himself, without so much as taking a for them to formulate some sort of plan or strategy, Ryuji quickly glanced at him, slowly putting one hand over his head, shaking his head despondently. "Of course, go after the guy who can flatten an city block by yourself, cause' why not." Quickly chasing after him, Ryuji froze the surface of a ground sewer grate across the ground with his hand, gently delivering a single blow with the opposite hand, sinking underneath the street in an effort to avoid Isan's attention, knowing full well that a direct approach would be the least of their problems if he found them. Lighting a dim flames across his shoulders, he followed the same route Kinzoku was heading, attempting to match his pace so as to keep some distance between himself and him, being ready to support him should the need arise. As Ryuji attempted to hide within the sewers, the ceiling above him suddenly collapsed, blocking off his route so that he could no longer continue moving underground, not without using a roundabout path that would take up the rest of his time. Above ground, Isan stood, being the one who had destroyed the ground with a mere stomp of his foot. "You're playing directly into my hands Kinzoku," said Isan, staring down his other student. "I'd think such a promising young Hero would know better than to attempt to abandon his partner." Kinzoku grinned as he felt the immense pressure from Isan. He'd ignored the words he spoke. Playing into his hands? Kinzoku couldn't help but chuckle. Sure the teachers were sneaky pairing him with Ryuji, but Kinzoku was way too much of a wildcard to simply have everything go as his sensei had planned. "Save the speech for later teach. I'm not worried about that jerk anyway, he's a hot shot so he can handle himself." Kinzoku was giving a snarky remark more than a compliment. Twenty five chains emerged from Kinzoku's back. He shot five into one large building, aiming five more into another large building, both of which were between Isan & himself, but not directly across the other. A prideful and cunning grin grew on the boy's face as he stood, watching his teacher with the most observing of eyes. Quickly jumping backwards, Ryuji made an effort to dodge the falling debris from the ceiling above, incinerating most of the rock and stone that touched him while looking on entry point being closed ahead of him. Given the sheer force used to crush ground straight on top of his, it was no doubt Isan's doing, acknowledging, if anything, he was a force to be reckoned with, even among the other teachers at UA. Sighing heavy-handedly, Ryuji traced his hand back across his helmet, more so out of habit as he wondered the sort of bad hand he was dealt with being paired with their homeroom teacher of all people and a partner, for all intents and purposes, had abandoned him. If it hadn't been for his mask, it would've have been relatively evident how deeply Ryuji was scowling at the turn of events being played out, kneeling toward the ground, hoping to make the most out of a bad situation by giving himself time to think. Calm down and focus, he thought, knowing Isan was not the type of opponent he could take lightly, warranting some manner of respect on his part and effort to confront for another. For now, Ryuji was beginning to build up heat through his Quirk, the sewer pipes steaming similarly to a furnace at the sheer concentration of humidity building up inside him, for now biding his time for the right opportunity. Before Kinzoku could fully activate his Quirk, Isan was upon. Maneuvering behind him, he smacked Kinzoku in the back with enough force to send him flying towards the ground, his chains being uprooted from the buildings attempted to anchor himself to. The trajectory he was aiming was to send him down the hole he had created, putting him in much greater proximity to Ryuji. It'd be easier to keep track of both of them that way. Kinzoku was keeping a steady eye on Isan, noticing the second he'd took off that he'd been a target. Isan was face, but the weights he'd been wearing for this exercise should've held him down a bit. Kinzoku leaned forward to duck under Isan's smack. It had also helped he'd trained with The Easter Bunny for his internship, a hero with outstanding speed based capabilities. Kinzoku had improved his reflexes in that time. He'd never been too easy to catch off guard, now it would be even harder. Kinzoku reeled himself along with his chains, quickly putting a distance between himself and his teacher once again. A wild card was definitely one of Kinzoku's most defining traits. No matter what anyone tried, his mind was just racing too fast for anyone to figure out his course of action. He couldn't help but wonder if the teachers kept this in mind whilst picking his pairing. Nevertheless, he kept doing what he was doing, but with his quirk fully active now, he could truly engage in his course of action. Kinzoku was moving, but there was one thing he had neglected to protect. The strength of his chains was so great he likely never worried about someone targeting them. Isan grabbed onto the first chain he could, pulling it out of the building Kinzoku attempted to anchor himself to. Immediately he flew around Kinzoku, attempting to wrap his chain, and grabbing new ones as moved around. Despite Kinzoku's training, no matter how fast and strong he was, Isan could make himself better. Kinzoku grinned the moment Isan grabbed his chain, a cunning smile etching itself onto his face. Five more chains emerged from Kinzoku's back, one diving into the hole to pull the scolding Ryuji from the sewers. Sure, he didn't like the guy. But Kinzoku wasn't petty enough to leave him hanging. Once Isan tugged on the chain and pulled it from the building, it all came crashing down. He probably should've avoided destruction, but he had to do what he had to do. Kinzoku had tied his chains around the main support beams in both the buildings, so once Isan pulled on them, he brought the whole place crumbling down. Even as the rubble came down, Kinzoku wasn't done. The other fifteen chains on standby revealed themselves as they sprang up from the ground surrounding Isan, they flew over his head and tied themselves together in what some call the impossible knot, a tying technique that was extremely difficult to detangle and struggling against it wouldn't be much of a help. The Metallic Minefield technique he'd learned from Ethan came in handy. Quite a bit of Ethan's suggestions actually had paid off for now. Kinzoku knew Isan's incredible strength would set him free eventually, but the falling rubble and the makeshift cage of chains would be enough to at least allow a swift get away. Using two of the chains he'd just released, he broke the link he'd had on the first fifteen of his chains, preventing Isan from using them to reel him back in as he escaped. He then shot two more of his into another building some ways off, using it to grapple and swing himself as well as Ryuji throughout the city. Headed for the gate to get out of here. With the sudden break from the ceiling, Ryuji's meditation was broken almost immediately as chains tugged and pulled through the crevice created high above, swinging him from building-to-building as he frantically grabbed hold of his literal life-line hanging him in the air. One of part, Kinzoku had destroyed the element of surprise he had over their professor, something that exacerbated things for him, but he was at least thankful that he actually took some consideration on their relationship in this situation. Looking around, he spotted the destination he was making a dash to, pulling unto the chain to elevate himself higher to around Kinzoku's level before pointing both hands. Still radiating steam from across his figure, Ryuji ignited the air behind the two of them, setting of several explosions to jettison them even further to the gate. The wind rushed by the duo of students as a mass of chains flew by them. It rammed into buildings at a blinding speed, causing them to topple over, and once again cutting off their path of escape. With the buildings already collapsed, Kinzoku wouldn't have anything latch onto, or otherwise drop onto Isan like before. It landed directly in front of the two student, ripping the chains surrounding him from his body. "Nice try kids. Try again." "Gladly!" Kinzoku taunted, more of his chains emerged, ripping up some of the rubble. Isan was fast, strong too, but Kinzoku and Ryuji had something he didn't. They had the essence of youth. Although they hadn't been on the best of terms, or cooperated much, they both had a goal to reach, a dream they were still dreaming. Nothing could put a dent in the steel heart of the Australian lad. Kinzoku used these chains to launched some debris at Isan, trusting Ryuji to keep the explosions going to keep the duo moving. Nineteen chunks of bricks, concrete, stone and other materials usually used to make office buildings flew at Isan with immense speed. Kinzoku kept a tight grip on Ryuji with one chain, using two more to slam on the ground with enough force to keep them airborne. Isan sighed. "They always try to keep their distance." The gravity around him expanded, with small bits of debris flying around his body. "Orbit!" The debris that Kinzoku had thrown stopped a few meters shy of their target, flying around Isan. At the perfect moment, his gravity returned to normal, and the huge chunks of debris went flying towards the pair of students.